www.cost.esf.org
European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research
COST is supported by the EU RTD Framework Programme
ESF provides the COST Office through an EC contract
Marcial García RojoChair. Hospital General de Ciudad Real / Spain
Vytenis Punys Kaunas University of Technology / Lithuania
Janina Slodkowska Military Institute of the Health Services, Warsaw / Poland
Thomas Schrader University of Applied Sciences, Brandenburg / Germany
Christel Daniel INSERM, Université René Descartes, Paris / France
Bernd BlobeleHealth Competence Center, U. Regensburg / Germany
Digital Pathology in Europe: Coordinating Patient Care and Research Efforts
COST Action IC0604
www.cost.esf.org
European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research
COST is supported by the EU RTD Framework Programme
ESF provides the COST Office through an EC contract
EURO-TELEPATH. Telepathology Network in EuropeCOST Action IC0604
Start date: 05/11/2007End date: 05/11/2011
Year: 2
16 action parties:CH, CY, DE, ES, FI, FR, GR, HR,
IT, LT, NL, NO, PL, PT, RS, UK
Digital Pathology in Europe: Coordinating Patient Care and Research Efforts
http://www.conganat.org/eurotelepath/http://www.conganat.org/eurotelepath/
COST is supported by the EU RTD Framework Programme
ESF provides the COST Office through an EC contract3
Agenda
• 15:00-15:10. Introduction. COST Action IC0604
• 15:10-15:40. Informatics Standardization and IHE Christel Daniel
• 15:40-16:10. Business processes in Pathology Thomas Schrader (discussion on line)
• 16:10-16:20. Discussion: Architecture of a European distributed health care environment for patient care and research in Anatomic Pathology. Bernd Blobel.
• 16:20-16:40 Coffee break
• 16:40-17:10. Handling whole slide microscopy images in PACS Vytenis Punys
• 17:10-17:30. Virtual microscopy scanning technology Marcial García Rojo
• 17:30-18:00. Application of automated quantitative analysis in Pathology Janina Slodkowska
http://www.conganat.org/eurotelepath/http://www.conganat.org/eurotelepath/
COST is supported by the EU RTD Framework Programme
ESF provides the COST Office through an EC contract4
Action participants
45
75
97
16
24
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
YR 1 YR 2 YR 3 YR 4
Total of individualparticipants
ESRs
Female
Non-COST Countries
(including WG experts)(including WG experts)
COST is supported by the EU RTD Framework Programme
ESF provides the COST Office through an EC contract5
Use of COST instrumentsYR 1 YR 2 YR 3 YR 4
No. of MC / WG meetings
5 6 next
No. of STSMs 1 6
No. of workshops / conferences
3 4
No. of joint publications
5 10
No. of training schools
0 1
GASG (activities)
Posters, website
Posters, website
COST is supported by the EU RTD Framework Programme
ESF provides the COST Office through an EC contract6
Scientific context and objectives (1/2)• Background / Problem statement: Adequate technological
framework for the management of multimedia electronic healthcare records – Informatics applied to Anatomic Pathology – Research on standards to represent, interpret, browse, retrieve digital
medical images – World wide search engine– Collaborate with Standardisation bodies with previous research
conclusions. • Main challenges are educational, technological, and
complexity of health information systems.• Brief reminder of MoU objectives: Evaluate and validate the
common technological framework and communication standards required to access, transmit and manage digital medical records by pathologists and other medical specialties in a networked environment.
COST is supported by the EU RTD Framework Programme
ESF provides the COST Office through an EC contract7
Scientific context and objectives (2/2)• Research directions:
1. Model for pathology and other hospital information systems2. Automation procedures in Pathology. Best technology available
and under research.3. Scanning solutions for Pathology microscopic slides.4. Technological solutions for compression and storage problems
with large image files. 5. Virtual slide standard viewer specifications which allow efficient
reviewing of pathology images.6. International standards (DICOM, HL7, SNOMED, CEN) and IHE
initiative. 7. An European-scope telepathology network 8. Collection of interesting and typical samples, and clinico-
pathological sessions
COST is supported by the EU RTD Framework Programme
ESF provides the COST Office through an EC contract8
Working groups
4 Working Groups Coordinators
WG1. Pathology Business Modellinge.g. Consensus study of existing workflows in pathology departments
Thomas Schrader (Germany) and Luis Gonçalves (Portugal)
WG2 – Informatics Standards in Pathologye.g. Participation in covered standards bodies and initiatives.
Christel Le Bozec (France) and Bernd Blobel (Germany)
WG3 – Images: Analysis, Processing, Retrieval and Managemente.g. study on the image analysis models (methods, systems, tools, fields of pathology).
Janina Slodkowska (Poland) and EPFL (Switzerland)
WG4 – Technology and Automation in Pathologye.g. analysis of microscope brands.
Marcial García Rojo (Spain) and Bernd Blobel (Germany)
COST is supported by the EU RTD Framework Programme
ESF provides the COST Office through an EC contract9
• 2008: IHE workflow proposals can help increasing productivity and automation procedures
• Analysis of Scanning solutions has become useful• Pathology DICOM object model has been published• JPEG is aware of compression and storage in Pathology• 2009: Process modelling and hospital information systems• IHE: Anatomic Pathology Reporting to Public Health
Repositories• Image analysis of immunohistochemical quantification has
been evaluated• Nanotechnology and multispectral imaging can play a role
Results vs. Objectives
COST is supported by the EU RTD Framework Programme
ESF provides the COST Office through an EC contract10
Significant highlights (1/2)
9th European Congress on Telepathology and 3rd International Congress on Virtual Microscopy
• 200 experts (35 countries) and all microscope brands• 5 COST related joint research papers were presented. A total
of 16 keynote lectures, 76 papers, 15 posters, 2 satellite symposia, and 2 short training courses (IHE and virtual slides)
• Proceedings published in BioMed Central (PubMed)• A STSM was arranged during this congress• EURO-TELEPATH is already know by international
standardization bodies (DICOM, IHE pathology groups). A joint meeting DICOM-IHE- EURO-TELEPATH has been arranged.
May, 2008May, 2008
COST is supported by the EU RTD Framework Programme
ESF provides the COST Office through an EC contract11
Significant highlights (2/2)
• Workshop on “Quantitative immunohistochemistry in digital pathology”
• IT engineers, bioinformaticians, biologists, oncologists, pathologists
• Consensus as obtained on standardization of immuno-histochemistry to improve quality and the current status of quantitative image analysis in immunohistochemistry.
• The collaborative study on breast carcinoma HER2/neu and hormonal receptors is a main output of this meeting.
• The draft of an EC RTD Framework project proposal was presented
COST is supported by the EU RTD Framework Programme
ESF provides the COST Office through an EC contract12
• STSM. Foster young scientists participation, • Training school on image analysis using open source
software.• Next critical phases should include:
– Complete business modeling of pathology processes using most suitable notation
– Terminology: SNOMED CT for Anatomic Pathology – Interfacing whole slide imaging platforms and image
automatic analysis – Postprocessing integration of radiology technical
framework (DICOM)
Challenges
COST is supported by the EU RTD Framework Programme
ESF provides the COST Office through an EC contract13